How To Cure Our Perpetual Boredom
How have things been? I asked her. I knew we were about to get into a deep discussion about the troubles of missionary life. We had not caught up in a while and women like to process every detail of our lives.
It’s a blessing. It’s a curse.
As we drove through Denver, my dear friend unpacked every struggle and goodness that she had been experiencing as a missionary. She is reaching out to students have had just enough Jesus to think they need no more, a very difficult task. Having attended a state party school, she told me that it can be challenging living and working at a Catholic school. She told me about the ups and downs of her team life and how the beautiful women she had met had made her entire time as a missionary worth every minute. She then turned the conversation to me. It was my turn to start hashing out details.
After 30 minutes of absent-minded shopping, I ended my update with, “But despite it all, I am really happy.”
Huh?
This left me feeling strange. I spent a half hour telling my dear friend whom I had not seen in months every poor, sorry detail of my life. Only at the end did I speak of happiness. I was, I am, very happy right now so why did I have to tell her all that was wrong? Why do my life’s lackings speak so much more loudly in my heart than the abundance of undeserved blessings?
As we approach Thanksgiving, I can’t help but notice that joy is not very popular in our culture today.
Think about it.
How often when you ask someone how they are doing do they answer with genuinely good examples? The most common answer is, “Oh, busy. It’s been crazy.”If someone does respond with an indication of joy, rest, or contentment, how often do we believe them? How often is it genuine instead of a superficial platitude?
My friends, joy, and gratitude go together. Gratitude is the root and joy is the fruit. If one is missing, it is almost inevitable that the other will be missing too.
I am often so up and down. By nature of my outgoing personality, I do not spend very much time in the middle. I tend to experience high highs and low lows and I like it that way. It never fails however that after two days of wallowing in the depths of despair for one reason or another I realize that I have traded gratitude for entitlement and therefore joy and wonder for despair and boredom. When I am so focused on what I don’t have but should, I wind up paralyzed because I am owed something. When I forget that I literally wake up every day and LIVE every second in a life, a marriage, a family that I don’t deserve, I forget that ALL is a gift and I fail to treat it as such. When we fail to be grateful, we fail to truly live.
St. Irenaeus said, “ The Glory of God is Man fully Alive.” In order to be fully alive, we must see Life FULLY! Yes, gratitude leads to joy but its full end is WONDER. With WONDER comes innocence because we are so enamored with what we have been given, we find no need to twist it. Our selfishness melts away.
What would our world look like if we regained our wonder? How would our relationships transform if we led with joy instead of want? How would culture change if our creativity was driven by innocent awe instead of seductive provocateur? The foundation of it all is gratitude and we start by truly thanking our Creator for simply including us in His creation.
He didn’t have to.
C.S. Lewis said, “Miracles are the retelling of small matters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”
Gratitude, true thankfulness, is the magnifying glass by which we can see miracles. Ingratitude is the serum that renders us blind.
This Thanksgiving, I hope that when asked how I am doing, I can answer first with the humble joy from having immersed my heart in sincere thanksgiving. It is my hope that you will too!
Happy Thanksgiving
